


Hidden

by generalkenobi715



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:01:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23805022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/generalkenobi715/pseuds/generalkenobi715
Summary: The fact that we never get to see Obi-wan's inevitable emotional trauma is unacceptable, so this is a start to that.  Ahsoka's there, so is Luke.  Kinda sad vibes
Comments: 5
Kudos: 35





	Hidden

Obi-wan jolted awake before he heard the rustling outside. He sat up, and his hand went to the hilt of his lightsaber immediately - he hadn’t used it for defense in a long time, but he still kept it in the same place he had at the temple, right by his mat. 

He heard another thump, and he was on his way to the door. On any other night, he wouldn’t be concerned; creatures from the vast desert wandered into the canyon all the time. But on nights like tonight, he couldn’t keep his heart from pounding. Every time the boy stayed too long, every time the suns set too early or a sandstorm kept him there, Obi-wan struggled for sleep.  
It was the cruciality of his safety that made Obi-wan ignite his lightsaber before swinging open the door, ready to attack.

But instead of a confrontation with a malevolent force, within a split second, Obi-wan found himself in an embrace he hadn’t felt in years.  
“Master Obi-wan! You’re alive, thank God you’re alive—“

Obi-wan was caught completely off-guard. He turned off his lightsaber, grasping for words, anything. He pulled away, trying to process.  
He couldn’t believe the face he saw under the hood in front of him.

“Ahsoka?”

She smiled. She’d grown so much since the last time he’d seen her. Since the last time either of them had—

He halted his train of thought before the pang in his chest could spread.   
He swallowed hard, pushing back the tears that bit at his eyes.

“It’s good to see you.”

He paused for a moment, then pulled her in again. He heard her sigh in relief over his shoulder, and the feeling was mutual. 

They separated, and Obi-wan’s mind reeled. There was so much to say, and he didn’t remotely know where to start.   
As it turned out, neither of them got the chance to say anything at all before they were interrupted by a voice in the darkness.

“Uncle Ben?”  
Obi-wan turned. So he was awake. 

“It’s alright. You can come out. It’s safe.”  
He continued speaking as he heard the boy scramble out of bed, footsteps falling in the darkness.

“Ahsoka...”  
He tried to read her, and found it far more difficult than before. Her eyes were trained on the form moving behind him in the dark.

“This is Luke Skywalker.”

Ahsoka watched the boy come into the light as his name left Obi-wan’s lips. 

Her breath caught in her chest.

All she could do was look at him. The way the moonlight bounced off his hair. The way he stood, his posture giving off a sense of pride.  
The way his bright blue eyes pierced her very soul.

The same eyes she’d seen every day in her dreams.

His eyes.

She tore her gaze away from the boy, looking to Obi-wan in confusion. She couldn’t process what she was seeing. Obi-wan looked back with an expression that conveyed both understanding and solemnity. 

They had a lot to catch up on, it seemed.

The pair sat at Obi-wan’s table, Ahsoka looking over his shoulder to where the boy lay sleeping, chest rising and falling in the darkness. She hadn’t taken her gaze off him once; not as he’d held out his hand and introduced himself, in true form. Not even as Obi-wan had guided him back to his place on the mat next to his own, pulling the blanket up over his shoulders. 

She was absolutely entranced. And Obi-wan didn’t know where to begin.

Lucky for him, Ahsoka filled the silence first.

“He’s... his?”

Obi-wan nodded, his gaze pointed downwards, unable to meet hers. “Anakin’s son.”

She finished for him.   
“And Padme’s.”

It was then that Obi-wan lifted his eyes to hers. She looked strangely calm, now, juxtaposed with the strangled confusion he’d seen just moments before. 

“You knew?”

She gazed calmly back at him.

“So did you.”

Of course she’d known. She’d been as close to Anakin as he had been. The bond between them had been unbreakable - so much so that Obi-wan had thought Anakin would never recover when she’d left. He’d been absolutely devastated. He’d felt he’d failed her.

Now, Obi-wan knew the feeling.

“He has a twin sister. Leia. She’s with Senator Organa and his wife on Alderaan. We had to split them up, for their own safety.”

A trace of that look of shock came back into Ahsoka’s eyes. She simply nodded.

“When?”

Ahsoka expected more. She deserved to know more.

“Not long after you left, I imagine. It had to have been before we left for the Outer Rim Seiges. But they were born the day—“

He stopped himself, trying to think of how to phrase what came next. 

“I know.”

He looked back up again. Her brow furrowed, remembering.

“I felt it. All of it. All of them, snuffed out in an instant. And Anakin, too. The cold, the dark.”  
She looked up at Obi-wan. “It’s more pain than I’ve ever felt in my life.”

So she did know. She’d felt it too - the moment he turned. The hatred on Mustafar. His descent into the abyss. His world crumbling as everything fell apart - as Obi-wan’s had, too.

“Me too.”

This had been harder than she’d expected. Ahsoka hadn’t even known if Obi-wan was alive. She’d explained to him how she’d spent years searching for survivors, following any possible trail. How her search had led her here.

And now, she’d found far more than she’d ever thought possible. She’d known about Anakin and Padme, that much had been obvious - but children? It was almost too much for her to bear.

Shaking, she asked the question she already knew the answer to.

“So Padme’s really gone, then?”

Obi-wan swallowed, as if he were fighting back tears. When he met her eyes, they were sadder than she’d ever seen them. She could almost see the pain of the memory reflected somewhere deep, and she understood.

“She’s really gone.”

Tears sprang to Ahsoka’s eyes. It was hard enough to come to terms with the truth about Anakin - that he’d gone to the dark side, that Vader had taken his place. Part of her still didn’t believe it. 

Part of her had, guiltily, hoped Obi-wan was alive so he could give her the answers she’d failed to find on her own.

And he did. He told her everything. The Council, Palpatine. The babies. Everything. Anakin had stood against his demons alone, and he’d made a choice - one that he thought would save his family, but ultimately ripped the only family he had left away from him forever. 

The family that hadn’t abandoned him.

The family that hadn’t turned cold to him out of fear.

Ahsoka had come for answers, and now she had them.

She’d failed Anakin.

She’d failed them both.

Obi-wan watched as Ahsoka processed, as the tears fell from her eyes. And he listened in near horror as she put into words the thoughts that had plagued him for five years.

“I knew. I knew long before I walked away. I knew and I looked the other way, because I loved them. I could’ve helped him, could’ve helped them both. We would’ve found a way, would’ve saved her—“

She choked on her words. “He needed me, Obi-wan. And I wasn’t there.”

In that instant, she was all the voices in his head.   
The ones that hadn’t left him alone since the day he’d picked up a boy’s lightsaber and left him bathed in fire.

It was like a knife in his chest.

“And now they’re gone, and these children, Obi-wan. Look at Luke. He looks just like him, like them both. What of him? They deserved to raise them, to be parents. And now they’re alone—“

“I know.”

Ahsoka looked up, stopped in her tracks. She’d barely noticed that Obi-wan hadn’t spoken.

Little did she know, it was the first time he’d really spoken in years.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t look at him and see Anakin looking back at me. That I don’t see Padme behind his eyes. Not a day goes by that I don’t regret it. All of it. Sending him to Palpatine. Not being there for him when he needed nothing more. Letting him face it all on his own. He was my brother, and I left him to face down the dark side and the loss of his family alone. God, I was right there. I turned a blind eye, and now he’s gone.”

He met Ahsoka’s eyes now, his own blurring with tears he’d only ever shed in cover of darkness.

“The fault is mine, Ahsoka. I failed him.”

She returned his gaze, the pain he felt reflected back in her eyes.

“We both did.”


End file.
